House Speaker Joe Straus is poised to appoint to the Texas Ethics Commission a Democrat who believes it is time to “dismantle the NRA” and who has compared the 2nd Amendment organization to the terrorist group ISIS.

Hobby’s tenure on the TEC has been highly controversial. He has pushed the commission to implement draconian regulations designed to suppress the free speech rights of citizens. The regulations have spawned a series of lawsuits from conservative organizations that are fighting to defend the First Amendment.

We had planned to comment yesterday, but Team Straus issued a denial and we decided to the whole situation play out a little longer:

Wynne is even more clear about the plan, telling the staffer: “I am replacing Paul Hobby.”

After Texas Scorecard published its report, one Austin reporter confirmed that Hobby would be resigning from the commission, a fact that had not previously been made public. In another Austin publication, a Straus source was quoted as saying: “Speaker Straus has not formally asked members for their input on who should succeed Hobby on the commission.”

....

It is obvious that some informal discussions between Hobby, Straus, the Democrats, and Anne Wynne were taking place in May. In fact, it appears likely from the emails that Straus or his staff directed Wynne to have Howard or Israel recommend her name to his office so that he could proceed in appointing her to the vacancy.

Now that Wynne has been revealed to be an anti-gun extremist who would likely use the power of the TEC to try to “dismantle” the NRA and other conservative groups, one would assume that Straus will no longer be able to move forward with her appointment. But the evidence is clear that Wynne believed she was set to be appointed to the commission and was telling Democratic offices as much in May.

After being caught preparing to appoint to the Texas Ethics Commission an extreme opponent of the Second Amendment who has called for the dismantling of the National Rifle Association, the Texas House Republican Caucus is claiming that Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus has not yet finalized that appointment.

Straus himself has yet to speak publicly about the issue raised this week when our own Cary Cheshire uncovered documents showing that since at least mid-May discussions have taken place between Straus’ office, House Democrats and liberal Austin lawyer Anne Wynne. She claimed she would be replacing Paul Hobby as the speaker’s Democrat appointee to the TEC. (Hobby was forced to resign after we reported that he and other members of the “ethics” commission were serving long past the constitutional term limit on the agency’s board.)

But words are important, and so is silence. While some members of the Texas House GOP caucus are subtly claiming Straus will no longer appoint Wynne, Straus himself has said nothing.

The GOP caucus says they “have great confidence” in Straus’ ability to pick “the best” Democrat. This should leave Texans wondering what their – and Joe Straus’ – definition of “best” might be. Straus’ record inspires little confidence that his pick will be one who respects the freedoms of speech and political association.

But now, by their unsigned words, the Republican Caucus officially owns that appointee, and the rules and decisions that appointee adopts.

Bottom Line: The GOP conference's statement was the tell. If there was nothing to this story, they would have ignored it. Team Straus got sloppy and got caught.